Birthright vs. Conquest/Revelations

[NekoKnight]

Well first of all, I personally think playing Conquest on normal defeats the purpose, since many sneaky traps, cool skills and other interesting stuff get removed - they really wanted you to be able to play through the game and see the story if you couldn't handle a harder difficulty. It is, of course, entirely up to you, and even hard mode is very challenging, but from a gameplay perspective, it's very rewarding! I can at least recommend starting on hard and lowering the difficulty later in case you run into too much trouble!

However, there is a reason why so many people dislike Conquest's story; personally I consider Revelation pretty much just as bad, save for a few things that make Revelation slightly more bearable. If you play video games at least partially for the plot, you run a genuine risk of getting frustrated and not care about why you're playing in the first place, which can even affect your enjoyment of the amazing gameplay.

Even on Normal, the well considered map design is going to punish/reward you for your strategic choices. I found it to be adequately challenging and you can always replay the game on higher difficulties. Considering the guy has only played Awakening and Birthright, Conquest Normal is going to be a more natural learning curve. Playing Fire Emblem like Dark Souls is for series veterans.

[Slyfox]

Conquest all the way! I think it is the only Fates game with a decent (even good) story, missteps notwithstanding. I prefer the Birthright non-royals, but the Conquest characters have better interactions in the story anyway, so it doesn't matter to me. The Nohr royals are fantastic in any route. Also, the game is challenging! Yay!

Birthright comes in second place. The story is kind of lame, which is what most people call average. Classes are great. I like the characters, but the Hoshidan royals kind of get on my nerves. Um, I found Brithright kind of boring overall, but not that bad.

Revelation... Ugh, the story, it's terrible. This really is bad fan fiction quality stuff, that retroactively ruins anything good about the two other paths, and I'm not exaggerating that last point. Fortunately, and unfortunately, this path has the most freedom to do whatever you want, so you may end up spending the most time on this path if you like unlocking supports and experimenting with tons of stuff.

[AresFe]

Conquest, hard difficulty or higher. This was the first FE I played since PoR and hard wasn't that difficult despite not knowing the pair up function and etc. So I"d recommend hard and lunatic later on.

[Rezzy]

If they had difficulty with Birthright, I'd hesitate to recommend Hard or Lunatic for Conquests. Conquests is definitely the hardest of the three routes, and Normal difficulty is a challenging enough experience for someone who's relatively new to the Fire Emblem series. They can always try a harder difficulty once they have more experience and want to try something harder. Jumping all in to Hard/Lunatic Conquests can put them off the series for good, considering it can be Nintendo Hard at times.

[AresFe]

If they had difficulty with Birthright, I'd hesitate to recommend Hard or Lunatic for Conquests. Conquests is definitely the hardest of the three routes, and Normal difficulty is a challenging enough experience for someone who's relatively new to the Fire Emblem series. They can always try a harder difficulty once they have more experience and want to try something harder. Jumping all in to Hard/Lunatic Conquests can put them off the series for good, considering it can be Nintendo Hard at times.

If they had trouble with Birthright then I would agree. But the option is always there to tone down the difficulty need be. Normal in my experience was ridiculously easy since I played hard/lunatic first then went back to play normal to farm skills due to lack of enemy skills for one.

I would plan a team ahead of time too at OP.

Edited May 9, 2016 by AresFe

[Rezzy]

If they had trouble with Birthright then I would agree. But the option is always there to tone down the difficulty need be. Normal in my experience was ridiculously easy since I played hard/lunatic first then went back to play normal to farm skills due to lack of enemy skills for one.

I would plan a team ahead of time too at OP.

They said they did have trouble with the paralogues. The Conquests maps are almost uniformly harder than the paralogues.

[Sh!t Lord]

For your first time on Conquest I'd recommend doing it on normal mode but you can try the other 2 modes if you want a challenge. It keeps a pretty steady difficulty up until ch. 18 which gets pretty hard from there. Revelations is probably the hardest (at least for me) of the 3, especially once you reach ch. 21 and beyond (though Conquest started getting pretty difficult at an earlier chapter Revelations made the difficulty insane). I highly recommend trying it on normal mode first and then if you thought it was easy move on to hard or lunatic. It's mostly up to you but in short out of Conquest and Revelations, Conquest is the easier one.

[Rezzy]

For your first time on Conquest I'd recommend doing it on normal mode but you can try the other 2 modes if you want a challenge. It keeps a pretty steady difficulty up until ch. 18 which gets pretty hard from there. Revelations is probably the hardest (at least for me) of the 3, especially once you reach ch. 21 and beyond (though Conquest started getting pretty difficult at an earlier chapter Revelations made the difficulty insane). I highly recommend trying it on normal mode first and then if you thought it was easy move on to hard or lunatic. It's mostly up to you but in short out of Conquest and Revelations, Conquest is the easier one.

Rev lets you grind without DLC, which is a help if you hit a wall. You aren't able to do that in Conquests without DLC.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I'm pretty sure he's being sarcastic

I dont think so, dude.

I'll give Fates this, at least all three stories are better than Xenosaga's.

But then cleaning the toilet is better than Xenosaga.

Boy, i havent seen a more correct statement on this forum in a while. Thane, wanna torture yourself? Play Xenosaga.

Conquest is pretty tough the first time through even on Normal. I havent done a Hard mode run of that yet, but its something im gonna do soon. (i tend to play Casual mode but thats just me) Second time on Normal, Conquest isnt really much, so its probably more rewarding on a higher difficulty...? Im guessing so. Revelation isnt hard at all. The maps at one point, get a bit weird and make you plan out how to proceed, but not due to difficulty. It has to do with layout. Revelation actually feels easier than Awakening.

As for paralogues, theres a couple on Team Nohr that are a little tough. Like Seigbert's and Ignatius'. Id reckon Seig's is the hardest, but thats my estimation. Conquest's maps (past like chapter 15) are harder than say, Birthright's paralogues. Like everyone said, Conquest, you cant really grind. In DLC not named Boo Camp, you actually dont get experience when playing dlc maps on Conquest route. Yeeahhhh. But Boo Camp exists if you want to grind at least.

Am i happy in investing in the Special Edition? Yes. Yes i am. Ill be playing this game for some time.

[AresFe]

Revelations is so much easier than conquest. Enemies have almost no skills and you have skirmishes etc. Never got Ignatius due to dislike of all general/knight class units but Sieg's paralogue is pretty bad. However Ophelia's paralogue trivializes it once you get Calamity.

[AmericanFox15]

Nohr's weapons won't throw weird stat boosts your way. This is sometimes a good thing (katanas) and sometimes not (shuriken, and to a lesser extent, naginata and yumi). I suggest hitting up a few Hoshido castles for the following:- Iron Naginata- Iron Shuriken- Iron Yumi- Brass YumiIron Naginata allows your tanks to tank better. Iron Shuriken gives a really nice Speed boost, which will help whoever wields is double more often. The yumi have +1 MT/-10 Hit compared to bows. The extra MT helps to set up kills.Next, I much prefer having Jakob as a starting servant over Felicia - he'll be able to damage and possibly kill things with easily-obtained stuff. While Felicia's doable, she'll either need to reclass or wait until Chapter 12 to become terrifying.The game will throw a LOT of characters are you. Some of them will grow fairly well on their own (Silas). You'll want to recruit others for their bases (you'll know 'em when you see 'em). Since you're on Casual, don't be afraid if someone picks off one of your units. Corrin's Dragonstone will be especially useful early-on, when you lack proper tanks.

Don't try to level everybody in Conquests. XP is a limited resource, unless you use the grinding DLC. Pick about a dozen units you like a use them, benching the rest. You can have a maximum of 16 units in the final few maps, so train no more than 16.

Rezzy and Eclipse, thank you for the tips. Do you have any more for me before I take the plunge? What skills should I try to get early on? What classes work best for everyone?

Edited May 10, 2016 by AmericanFox15

[Rezzy]

Rezzy and Eclipse, thank you for the tips. Do you have any more for me before I take the plunge? What skills should I try to get early on? What classes work best for everyone?

If playing Casual mode, save periodically mid-battle, it can save you a lot of time, if you get a surprise game-over. In conquests, I didn't do too much reclassing, but making Mozu and Archer and Odin a Samurai are popular choices.

Good skills are a discussion of their own, I personally love Draconic Hex, which is a Nohr Noble skill, but you can get it early if you find it in a MyCastle. One Skill I strongly recommend is giving Azura Movement +1 and even a pair of Boots, if you can spare them. Having a Dancer with 6-7 Movement can make a huge difference. Movement +1 is a cross class skill, though so you'll have to get it from someone's My Castle.

My My Castle has Azura with Movement +1 (as well as some other nice skills, including an Avatar with Draconic Hex) in my My Castle, with all the units on hold.

Other recommended skills overall

Replicate: almost the Gale Force of Fates, although you can your clone share HP, so it can be risky, especially with the low HP totals in Fates

Profiteer and Salvage Blow: Help with Gold and Extra Weapons which can be in short supply in Conquests.

Make sure to feed Lilith every chance you get. She'll give you a free gold bar every few meals.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Rezzy

[eclipse]

Rezzy and Eclipse, thank you for the tips. Do you have any more for me before I take the plunge? What skills should I try to get early on? What classes work best for everyone?

I'll split this into two.

Fairly easy things:

- Have your servant get Tomebreaker, the sooner the better. It's a huge help.

- Niles really wants Movement +1 (his level 10 skill). If you promote him to Adventurer, Lucky 7 (level 5 skill) is nice.

- Corrin gets Dragonic Hex at level 5 promoted. It is pretty good on lower difficulties.

- If you ever get your hands on a Frying Pan, give it to Arthur, and have him go Hero. He really appreciates Sol (moreso than the negative crit evade that 'zerker provides).

- At least one of Odin/Nyx/Leo should be on your team at all times. Heartseeker pins enemies down like no one's business.

More complicated stuff:

- Combine Heartseeker with a Freeze staff to make even the dodgiest enemies stay put. This works well on certain bosses.

- If you plan on using Leo, you can safely switch Odin to Samurai.

- If Camilla's tanking is suspect by the end of Chapter 18, have Xander temporarily reclass to Wyvern Lord.

- Kaze does pretty well as a Mechanist on this route. Ideally, you'll get his level 5 skill by Chapter 17. Realistically, you'll want it by Chapter 22.

- Have Xander hop over to Great Knight for a level after he gains his level 5 Paladin skill, then switch him back to Paladin if you want. Why? Because the best kind of kill is overkill.

- If Beruka/Keaton are dying too fast, have them swap over into some form of Fighter for a level (two if you want a crit-boosting skill).

- If you're dead-set on using Nyx, have her promote into Dark Knight so that she doesn't die to a stiff breeze.

- If you want another bow user, have Effie A+ Mozu, then turn her into a Sniper. She'll do an insane amount of damage thanks to her personal skill and Quick Draw.

- Elise can get another staff class by getting A+ with Azura.

- If you decide to get Benny's kid, create him as quickly as possible! Said paralogue gets exponentially harder as time goes on. Xander's kid is similar, but he's got a bit more breathing room (not much, though). Leo's kid can be somewhat difficult, too, so don't dawdle too long.

[AmericanFox15]

Thanks for the advice! I really appreciate that you took the time to help. Besides what you've already posted, is there anything else I should try to do when I tackle Conquest?

[Thane]

Thanks for the advice! I really appreciate that you took the time to help. Besides what you've already posted, is there anything else I should try to do when I tackle Conquest?

Effie, Velour and Xander could go into battle naked and laugh as an enemy soldier stabs them in the gut for zero damage.

[eclipse]

Thanks for the advice! I really appreciate that you took the time to help. Besides what you've already posted, is there anything else I should try to do when I tackle Conquest?

Don't be afraid of screwing up. Also, the mess hall is your friend in later maps.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

just make sure the person in mind can actually cook.

felicia and arthur i remember being pretty bad cooks, elise too.

[saisymbolic]

Peri, Mozu and Jakob are good in the Mess Hall. Be wary of anyone else.

Tonics will also help out a lot. Two points in STR, DEF and SPD can really make a huge impact to a unit's usefulness.

Edited May 14, 2016 by SaiSymbolic

[AmericanFox15]

Thanks a bunch, everyone! I'll be sure to comment again if I need help. I appreciate all the help that you gave!

[TheWerdna]

Thanks again everybody for all your comments. They've been quite helpful. Eclipse, thank you for your difficulty scale. I think that answers the question which prompted the original post.

On a side note, I wanted to ask what you guys felt was the best part out of each path. What did you like most besides the gameplay? Are all three paths worth the time and money? If you can share without spoiling, fantastic. If not, then please hint at it (so long as it doesn't give it away). As for the stories, what caused you to feel that they were subpar or outright bad?

Everyone has different tastes. That's life. Keep it civil and spoiler-free if you can. Thanks.

Alright, here is my honest pros and cons of each route without spoilers.

Birthright: Probably the most computable written of the three, though it handles everything with kid gloves and is super black and white in it's morality. Also probably the easiest in terms of gameplay, which can be a good or bad thing.

Conquest: it attempts to tell a more morally complex story, but fails miserably in terms of as every single character (on both sides) seem to have spontaneously become too dumb to live. Corrin and Azura in particular act like utter morons. It also suffers more than Birthright from the story being split into three, as it introduces a lot of story theads and hints at things that never get explained or resolved in this route (that are explained in full in Revelations). Pros are that I feel like the Conquest characters tend to be more interesting and better written in their supports, and it is really cool to see them tackle how just because a nation is evil does not mean the people in it are. The gameplay is spectacular too, with more interesting level design and encourages strategy.

Revelations: the story is a mixed bag. On one hand you actually fight the real big bad whose been behind everything and get answers to what's really going on, but boy if you thought Birthright was kiddy then just wait till you see this one. The story is basically everyone on both sides become friends and save the world throug the power of friendship. Another problem is the game kind of assumes you know who all the characters are as they don't get as good introductions as they are thrown at you like 4-5 per chapter without good introductions. Gameplay is a mix between the two, and it is nice to get some new cross faction supports. Also half the paralogues will be identical to Birthright.

[Thane]

Revelations: the story is a mixed bag. On one hand you actually fight the real big bad whose been behind everything and get answers to what's really going on, but boy if you thought Birthright was kiddy then just wait till you see this one. The story is basically everyone on both sides become friends and save the world throug the power of friendship. Another problem is the game kind of assumes you know who all the characters are as they don't get as good introductions as they are thrown at you like 4-5 per chapter without good introductions. Gameplay is a mix between the two, and it is nice to get some new cross faction supports. Also half the paralogues will be identical to Birthright.

I'll chime in and say that the gameplay balance is very uneven. Some units join at way too low a level, and the maps after chapter 18 I believe it is simply stop being a challenge even on Lunatic due to how much space there is on the maps; you'll never be swarmed.

Also, watching through Path of Radiance to refresh my old memories, I'm shocked at how much they discuss strategy and politics (although admittedly often sloppily and rather blandly written such) considering we have none of that in Fates. It's bizarre how such an important element of a medieval strategy game has just disappeared. Does Corrin even once mention strategy, supplies or other important stuff outside of supports?

[TheWerdna]

Rezzy and Eclipse, thank you for the tips. Do you have any more for me before I take the plunge? What skills should I try to get early on? What classes work best for everyone?

Another tip, while you don't get exp for it, you can grind supports by fighting other players' my castle teams, which you will want to do to get A* and S supports up.

Also, if you want Azura to be at all relevant you should do as follows: on chapter 5 after you kill everything except the boss have Azura sit there and use her sing ability on Corrin for like 100 turns to level her up to about level 10 or so. Otherwise she will be too under leveled when she rejoins you.

[AresFe]

Another tip, while you don't get exp for it, you can grind supports by fighting other players' my castle teams, which you will want to do to get A* and S supports up.

Also, if you want Azura to be at all relevant you should do as follows: on chapter 5 after you kill everything except the boss have Azura sit there and use her sing ability on Corrin for like 100 turns to level her up to about level 10 or so. Otherwise she will be too under leveled when she rejoins you.

Lol what? OP just train normally and Azura will be fine. You don't need to waste 100 turns to level her up lol

Normal is a cakewalk and you can use pretty much anyone, but I'm sure Xander, Corrin, and the other royals can make quick work of the campaign.

The other posters already gave advice on Conquest so just follow that.

Edited May 19, 2016 by AresFe

[TheWerdna]

Lol what? OP just train normally and Azura will be fine. You don't need to waste 100 turns to level her up lol

Normal is a cakewalk and you can use pretty much anyone, but I'm sure Xander, Corrin, and the other royals can make quick work of the campaign.

The other posters already gave advice on Conquest so just follow that.

I mean, that was really because in my experience her being gone for 4 missions and gaining no levels really puts her behind.

[eclipse]

I mean, that was really because in my experience her being gone for 4 missions and gaining no levels really puts her behind.

Her singing is powerful, no matter what. Have her refresh your servant for twice the healing, or your best fighter so you can kill something else. She'll gain levels on her own fairly quickly.

Supporting her, on the other hand, can get a bit tricky.